Until It's Gone
by RobinNightingale
Summary: A year is hardly the blink of an eye to a demon, and yet, it hasn't even taken the demon gang that long to get used to their human forms, and their human lives. But every now and then, maybe they feel like something's missing...
1. Ashiya

"I'm off to work now! Bye!"

"Please take care, my lord!"

These words had become routine in apartment 201, though even now they were said with no less enthusiasm. Today, however, they were spoken a little earlier in the day. Maou had elected to take on a shift to cover another co-worker, and as a result, that morning he scarfed down the quick meal Ashiya had prepared for him and departed while his general was still making breakfast for himself and Urushihara.

It really was a pity Maou had to leave early, because Ashiya had decided to use the pressure cooker he'd miraculously won from the raffle draw. He gazed adoringly at the shiny new contraption, and with careful, nimble fingers plopped the vegetables he'd been chopping up into the water, which had already begun to boil. Just for good measure, he wiped away the sluices that splashed on the sides, but soon had to draw the rag away as the inside began to heat up.

He left it open as he prepared the carrots, slicing them thinly and neatly so that they'd boil faster. He'd only bought them the other day, just to try them out in the pressure cooker, and he couldn't wait to find out the difference in taste.

 _Sssssssshhhhh-clunk._ "…Maou left already?"

"Wow, you're up early, Urushihara," Ashiya noted, genuinely surprised.

"I didn't have any choice," Urushihara grumbled. He stuck his disheveled head out from the top closet shelf and blinked blearily at the kitchen. "That pressure cooker's noisy." He frowned at the device in question.

"Well, it's going to give us a better breakfast than we've had in months, _and_ it got you up earlier than usual, so I consider that a plus," Ashiya replied, smiling. He finished chopping the carrots and carried the cutting board and knife to the cooker. He gently slid them into the now-bubbling water, carefully scraping every scrap so that none of it got on the edge of the cooker.

Urushihara watched all of this with barely-concealed disbelief. "You're so weird," he muttered, rolling back onto his shelf.

An eyebrow twitched, but Ashiya was determined to keep his irritation in check this time. "Come down and set the table," he said calmly.

"You always end up doing it anyways, so why bother asking me?"

"For _Satan's sake_ , is it so hard to— _ah_!" Ashiya hissed when the back of his hand touched the inside of the cooker, which by this point was steaming hot. He jerked his hand back and dropped both the knife and the cutting board, which clattered to the countertop and then the floor. The knife, thankfully, fell handle down a distance away from him, but the cutting board dropped straight on his foot.

"OW!"

Ashiya grabbed his foot with his uninjured hand and hopped up and down for a few seconds before leaning against the counter. His massaged his foot for a minute until the throbbing subsided, at which point he could turn his attention to his hand, which had begun to sting badly. Limping around to the sink, he turned it on and ran the raw skin under the cool water. He sighed, then used his other hand to close the pressure cooker.

"You okay?" Urushihara's normally bored voice held a faint note of concern.

"Fine, thank you for asking," Ashiya muttered sarcastically.

He didn't turn around to look at his roommate, but he could picture his moody expression as he shuffled back into his closet. "Sorry I asked," Urushihara retorted, before the closet door closed with a _snap._

A part of Ashiya regretted his response, but he couldn't help himself. Sighing again, he turned off the water and flexed his hand a few times, before holding it open and up in the sunlight.

All these months, and he still caught himself being surprised at what he saw. It had grown less frequent as time went on, but he still had moments where his hand would move in front of his vision, and a part of him would be astonished to find pink skin instead of black armor. Pink, sensitive skin, soft like when he'd shed his exoskeleton and expose the new, fragile shell underneath. Except this time, it felt as if someone had torn his skin away early, and he hadn't had a chance to grow it back.

The only reason his foot had gotten hurt was because he hadn't bothered to move it out of the way. Why would he, when his iron armor would protect him? He had to admit it was a risky downside, as having impenetrable armor had slowed his people's reflexes over the generations. Now, it seemed, he was paying the price for it.

A sudden feeling of vulnerability washed over him, now that he was thinking about it. Every single bit of him felt exposed. He fought the urge to curl up on himself, do any pathetic attempt to protect himself from the _world_.

He was glad when, at that moment, the pressure cooker chose to beep. He turned off the pressure and opened the lid, smiling at the sight of the cooked vegetables inside. He allowed his actions to brush away his thoughts, and went about setting the table, forgetting entirely that he'd wanted to make Urushihara do it.

But during breakfast, when Urushihara had finally hauled himself from his den and actually joined him for breakfast, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Urushihara…do you ever miss your wings?"

Urushihara stopped chewing. "My wings?"

His surprised stare went on for several seconds, and Ashiya fidgeted uncomfortably under the scrutiny of it. But just when he was about to dismiss the matter, Urushihara shrugged and replied, "Not really," and reached to the pile of vegetables in the middle for another helping.

"Oh." Several minutes of silence, punctuated by chewing and the scraping of chopsticks against bowls, went on. Then, "Why not?"

Urushihara's glance was briefer this time, but no less piercing. "I just don't," he answered.

His bowl empty at last, he set his dishes down and rose, only to take a few steps and plop down again in front of his computer. His earphones were plugged in and his music running before Ashiya even had the chance to berate him for, yet again, leaving his dishes on the table. But it wouldn't have mattered anyways, as Ashiya had instead retreated back into his own thoughts, and it was without even a spark of annoyance that he picked up all the dishes and put them in the sink.

He was putting the last dish in the dish rack and drying his hands when Urushihara's voice came again.

"I don't think about it."

"Huh?" Ashiya glanced at his roommate, but the purple-haired NEET hadn't turned around. The only difference was that he'd removed his headphones. Just when he thought he might have misheard, Urushihara said, "I don't miss them, because I don't think about it. There's a lot more interesting stuff to do than miss what you don't have. And anyways, all we have to do is get enough fear and despair and we can manifest our true forms."

He typed something, and the screen changed to another video. When he didn't say anything further, Ashiya figured he'd finally finished, and put back the rag he'd been holding this entire time.

…What was that just now?

A small smile twitched its way onto Ashiya's mouth, before it was covered up by his usual sternness. "I'm heading out for a bit, so don't buy anything while I'm gone," he said, raising his voice a little to carry through Urushihara's headphones.

"Then I'll buy something when you get back."

"No, not even when I get back!"

"All right, all right, fine! Geeze, get going already!" Urushihara twisted around for the first time, his only visible eye flashing with annoyance.

Ashiya huffed, but didn't reply, and took his wallet before heading out the door.

Once he was out on the staircase, however, he allowed himself a small chuckle. It was a sunny day, and he put up a hand to shield himself from the brightness before continuing down the steps.

The sunlight felt nice and warm on his skin, he noticed.

* * *

 **RN:** Just something I thought up. I wondered if the demons ever missed their old forms at times. I mean, it must be a pretty big shock to go from something as powerful as a demon to something as vulnerable as a human. There are two more chapters coming up, one for Urushihara, and one for Maou. If you want me to continue further, let me know if you have an idea for extra chapters. I'm just sort of doing this on the side as I work on my other story, _How you have fallen from Heaven, Morningstar_.


	2. Urushihara

Urushihara had heard, vaguely, at some point, that there had been a rapidly increasing trend of young people—particularly teenagers—growing addicted to electronics, much to the dismay of the older generation. He didn't much care for the term 'addicted', he preferred to think he was just very good at spending time, but even if it did turn out that he was addicted, he wouldn't mind. He _loved_ electronics. They captured his attention like nothing else did, and there was always something to do on the internet. He could never be bored with his computer.

Add a good soundtrack to the background, and he was completely gone, taken to another world. A world where no one nagged him, no one berated him, and no one asked him weird questions. Except the weird people on the internet, of course.

But for some reason, today he found he couldn't quite submerge completely into that comforting hypnosis like he normally did. Something was tugging on the back of his brain, keeping his head above water. He tried turning up the music louder, a catchy pop song he'd grown rather fond of, but found he couldn't even pay attention to the guitar riff in the middle, his favorite part.

Finally, after going through two more songs with similar luck, he gave up. He took out his headphones and rubbed his eyes, sighing when the strain he hadn't noticed until then relaxed.

It was quiet. He knew it was quiet when he was the only one in the apartment, but he didn't know it was _this_ quiet. Just the faintest sounds of cars going by every now and then, or the wind picking up to blow through the leaves. He drummed his fingers against the tabletop absentmindedly, his body perhaps wanting to fill that emptiness with _something_.

He knew what it reminded him of. The Demon World, when he'd still been a stray wandering around the wastelands looking for something to occupy his time. He'd glide along the winds over fiery deserts, swooping in and out of clouds as dark as his wings, aimlessly travelling from one land to the next. He'd spent years, _decades_ , doing that. The sheer, skull-raking _boredom_ would sometimes foul his mood so much that whenever he found any demon, whether it be a straggler or a clan, he didn't waste time killing them right off the bat, because it was simply something to _do._

(Of course, afterwards he'd regret it, because once again he'd be left with no one to entertain him.)

 _Stupid Ashiya_. Urushihara sighed and lay back on the floor, groping without looking for a box of snacks in the process. He popped a chip into his mouth and listened to the crunching, his eyes tracing the wooden beams on the ceiling.

It was obvious why his roommate had asked that question. But it was still a stupid question. Ashiya had always been one to worry about useless things, and this was no different. It wasn't like their powers were gone entirely, nor was it the case that they'd be gone forever. All they had to do was wait for some big disaster to happen, and _poof!_ Instant refueling. So in the meantime, why worry?

The chip bag was empty before he knew it, and his fingers scraped around the greasy insides for several seconds before he decided to look to confirm. Tossing the garbage with the rest, he wiped his fingers on his shirt and spread his arms out on either side of him as he lay back once again.

After a time, he turned his head to gaze down one arm. It was slightly crooked, like the bend in a wing. His hand rested palm up with its fingers splayed outwards, almost like feathers extending from the joint.

Urushihara snorted, and sat back up again. Ashiya didn't know anything. He hadn't been lying, not one bit, when he'd told his roommate he didn't miss his wings. Normally, he would have just left it at that, but the idiot just looked so damn _pitiful_ , Urushihara tacked on that last bit before he could start a day's worth of moping, which would usually end up with Ashiya being more irritating than usual (otherwise Urushihara wouldn't have bothered).

But he didn't miss them. Angels by nature were able to hide their wings, so it wasn't like some big surprise to him when he woke up in Japan and his wings were gone.

(It had been a bit of a shock when he couldn't recall them right away, but that was short-lived the moment he'd absorbed some human negativity)

Besides, he was able to fly without his wings anyways. He'd tested it a few times in the Demon World, and though it was a bit strange feeling the wind on his face but not his feathers, he quickly grew used to it.

No, he'd never missed his wings, simply because he never thought about them. He understood why it could be a surprise to some, considering how long he'd lived with them. But he had better things to be wasting his time with. Like the Internet.

Although…

Urushihara grimaced. If he _had_ to pick something he missed, he supposed it would be his energy. He'd been powerful before he came to Japan, very powerful. For a long time, the most powerful demon in the area, and even longer still, one of the most powerful angels. And as a Demon General...he admitted it did feel good to have that sort of authority. It wasn't the same as his authority in Heaven. Those lower-class soldiers would snap to attention if a leaf fell by. An administrative position, however high, was just an office job in the end. But to be in charge of an _army..._ He hadn't had fun like that in centuries. So it _was_ a bit of a letdown that he'd been reduced to this level, when he thought about it.

But he didn't think about it, so he didn't care.

He plugged his headphones back in, and pulled up another video. This time, he was able to sink into it completely.

* * *

 **RN:** Very short, and maybe disappointing to some, but I felt like it was the most likely answer he'd give. I have a feeling he never really wanted to go back to Heaven in the first place (why would he, when it bored him so much?) and like any young person getting introduced to electronics, he'd be too fascinated by them to care about anything else in his life. As a person who wants to do as little work in his life as possible, feeling bad about his current state just seems like a waste of energy.

Maou is next, and the final one. Stay tuned!


	3. Maou

" _Yaaaaaaaaay! Yeeeeeeeeee! Ba ba ba—_ look, Daddy, I have a tail!"

It was a warm, lazy afternoon, and it was Maou's turn to look after Alas=Ramus, after his daughter had insisted on visiting him several times to Emilia. Emi had stayed for a little while, but not too long ago she and Suzuno had inexplicably decided to head out, leaving Alas in the tender care of three demons.

Currently Alas was jumping dizzying circles round her father, who somehow managed to keep up with her movements perfectly, whereas any other parent would have either grown too woozy to speak or else sprained their neck with how fast he was whipping it back and forth. Whenever Alas looked as if she were about to run into something, or fall over, Maou's hand would be right there to help her back up, and she'd continue on her way. She'd stuffed a paper towel down her diapers so that a bit of it stuck out, and when she'd seen it, she'd immediately called it a tail; thus the bounding and hopping like a rabbit.

"Yes, I see it," Maou replied to her, smiling. The corner of the towel stuck up in a perfect imitation of a rabbit tail, and if she ran just right, it really did look as if she'd been born with it.

Maou's smile grew nostalgic. Then, fully aware there were two other demons in the room—and his Generals, no less—he asked his daughter, "Hey, Alas, did you know I had a tail once?"

"You did?" Alas stopped right in her tracks and stared at her father, wide-eyed.

"Uh-huh. When I was your age, it looked just like yours. Only it was black instead of white."

Anything further he meant to say was dashed away when Alas started circling around him again. But instead of reappear on his other side, she made her way to his back, bent down, and before he could stop her, tugged the waistband of his pants away and looked inside.

"I don't see it," she said, disappointed.

"Ah, here, now, Alas, don't do that," Maou said, flustered, and dragged his daughter around himself to his front. "I said I _used_ to have a tail. I don't have one anymore."

Alas furrowed her eyebrows in an expression that was half puzzled, half pitying. "Where did it go?"

"Well…It just disappeared when I got to Japan. I used to have wings and hooves, too. And horns." He patted his head. "Two of them, right here."

He could see his daughter's mind working to visualize all he said. He admitted it was a rather general description—many demons had at least some combination of these features, in various forms and sizes—but something seemed to have clicked with Alas, for her eyes suddenly widened again, and she gave a gasp of realization.

"Ooh, ooh, I know, I know! Was Daddy a baa-baby?!"

That definitely wasn't the answer he'd been expecting. "A…what?"

"A baa-baby!"

Utterly perplexed, Maou shot a look to his Ashiya, who had halted in the middle of cleaning the counter to give an equally bewildered look and shrugged in response. Urushihara, as usual, wasn't paying attention, but his frame had gone strangely still.

Seeing that he was going to have to find this out on his own, Maou caught his daughter as she circled around him one more time and gently sat her down. "Alas…do you think you could tell me what a baa-baby is?"

"Daddy!" Alas answered brightly.

"N-No, I mean, what do they look like?"

"Oh." Alas' face scrunched up in an exaggerated, contemplative frown. "Well…they have a tail! Like me! And…their heads are pointy! _Ping ping!_ And they jump and run awound, and their legs are funny and all sorts of colors!" She giggled. "They have baa-baa legs! And they blow!"

" _Blow?_ "

"Uh-huh!"

Maou sat his daughter down again from where she was replicating this strange…dance of the baa-babies. "What do you mean they blow?"

"Their face gets puffy, and they go _fwoo, fwoo_ into sticks! And pretty sounds come out!"

"Uh…huh." Giving up entirely, he decided to turn to the one person he hadn't asked yet. "Oi, Urushihara, do you think you could find a picture of…are you okay?"

For some reason his General was shaking hard, and his head had fallen into his arms. For an instant Maou grew concerned, but before he could say anything else, Urushihara answered him. And his voice was surprisingly delighted.

"She means…" Here he rose his head up at last, and a rare grin splayed widely across his mouth. "…she's talking about a satyr."

"Sa…tyr?" Maou sounded out the unfamiliar word. "What's that?"

"And how on earth do you know about it?" Ashiya wondered aloud.

Ignoring Ashiya, Urushihara answered Maou, "It's a foreign mythical demon of some sort. It seems like lots of cultures around the world have their own version of the Demon World, and a lot of the demons in them are actually pretty close to clans in Ente Isla. Satyrs look just like the demons from your Black Goat clan, with goat legs and two horns. The only difference is they don't have wings."

 _This_ Maou had to see. A version of his family's clan in the human world? "Can you bring up a picture?"

Five seconds of typing later, and Maou was looking at one of the most bizarre things he'd come across ever since he arrived in Japan. True to Urushihara's word, though many pictures were partially incorrect in their design, they did look very similar to his people's clan.

"What in the world has Emi been showing you?" Maou asked his daughter. But to his surprise yet again, it was Urushihara who answered.

"I showed it to her."

"How did _you_ end up showing her?"

Rolling his eyes at Maou's astonished tone, Urushihara replied, "I was babysitting her and she wanted to watch some cartoons, 'like at Mommy's box' or whatever she said. So I looked online for free cartoons, and I found a bunch of movies. She saw a picture of a mouse in a hat, and she immediately picked that one. I think she liked the stars or something."

"They had colors, and they blew at the ping-ponies! And the fly-ponies! Oh, and the girl-ponies!"

"Centaurs," Urushihara explained, when Maou turned to him once again. That, at least, was a familiar name in the Demon World. A faction of the Beast Demonoid variation, centaur clans weren't that common, but they were often powerful. The Equine Cyclops clan was a travelling herd of notorious bandits that never remained in one area for too long, instead choosing to pillage and raid any clan they came across. They made for a formidable vanguard in Maou's army later on. "And pegasi. I don't know what the first ones are, though. Horses with horns. Humans come up with all sorts of strange things these days."

"Baa-people! Baa-people!" Alas exclaimed excitedly, pointing to the pictures. "See, Daddy? They go _fwoo, fwoo!_ "

In a few of the pictures, the so-called satyrs were holding strange objects that looked like a bunch of sticks glued together, and some pictures depicted the satyrs blowing into them, like Alas had said before. A musical instrument, Maou realized. "What is that?" he asked, pointing it out.

"I don't know."

Maou frowned at his general. "I thought you researched this."

"What, you expect me to know everything?"

"That's what you're here for, isn't it?! To research this sort of thing?! I mean, how long were you going to take before you told us that this world had its own versions of the Demon World? Didn't you think that might be a little relevant?"

"All right, all right, I'll look it up! Geeze, what, do you expect me to suddenly be an expert on every demon in this world all of a sudden? It's not like any of them are real, anyways, as far as I know, they're all just stories, so I don't know why you'd still want to know…" Grumbling, Urushihara pulled up another webpage and scanned through it. After a few minutes, he finally said, somewhat spitefully, "Panpipes. They're called panpipes."

"And those are?"

"Some kind of instrument. I don't really get this explanation. A god was chasing a girl, who turned into some grass…no, wait, reeds, and then the god cut up the reeds and made panpipes. There. You happy?"

His sarcastic attitude immediately sobered up when he caught the icy glare of his king.

"Do they have anything that matches my clan?" Ashiya asked interestedly, his face appearing over Maou's.

"No," Urushihara answered immediately.

"How do you know? You haven't even checked!"

"So?"

" _Urushihara_ ," Maou drew out.

"Ugh, fine." The sound of typing was much more aggressive this time.

Ashiya squinted at the pictures brought up. "What…is _that?_ "

"It's a scorpion."

"No, it's not!"

"In this world it is."

"How utterly revolting! What's with all those legs? What kind of creature needs that many legs?"

 _Just wait until he sees a centipede,_ Maou thought. He'd found one in his locker once, nestling between his clothes—it'd been a huge shock at first, but once he got over the strange-looking creature he found it to be actually quite interesting. Chiho and Kisaki hadn't agreed; they'd swept it up in a dustpan and dumped it out the moment they found it.

"The tail is completely wrong, besides! Who would expose their underside like that, especially to an enemy? It's a wonder they've survived in this world at all!" Ashiya stomped back to the counter, severely disappointed.

"Apparently they can be really poisonous," Maou said, reading a description. "A lot of people are scared of them."

"…Are they really?" Ashiya turned back, just a little.

Maou chuckled. Alas squirmed and reached for the keyboard. "I wanna see the baa-people again!"

"Don't hit the keys like that, they're delicate," Urushihara admonished, but he obliged nevertheless.

Alas giggled and bounced up and down in Maou's lap when the pictures returned. She turned and looked up at him.

"Daddy, did you go _fwoo fwoo_?"

Maou's lips slid into an easy grin as he drew his daughter into his lap. "No, can't say that I ever had anything like that before. My clan didn't have much time to invent that sort of thing."

 _Mostly because they kept getting attacked all the time._

"Where's Daddy's baa-people, Daddy? Can we go see them?"

Maou's smile faltered, and in a gentler voice, he murmured, "…No, we can't, Alas."

"Why not?"

"Because…umm…well, we'd have to go to Ente Isla if we wanted to see them."

"Oh, okay! Let's tell Mommy! She'll go _whoosh whoosh_ and purple will open up!"

"No, Alas, we can't do that." It seemed like there was no avoiding it. He was quite aware that both his Generals had adopted the behavior of purposely trying to pretend as though they weren't listening, though their figures seemed stiff, but he ignored them and said, "They're...not there anymore."

"They're not?"

Maou shook his head at Alas' falling expression. She tilted her head. "Where did they go?"

 _They were killed._ "They ran away."

For some reason this made Alas go silent, and she put on a surprisingly somber expression, her eyes downcast. But this was nothing compared to what she said next.

"Mommy said her people ran away. But I really think they all went to sleep."

"What?"

Maou gazed down at his daughter, astonished. He knew exactly what she meant, and he was quite sure she meant what he was thinking as well.

Alas looked back up at her father, her eyes holding understanding far beyond her years. "Did your people go to sleep too, Daddy?"

Their gaze held for a second longer, then Maou swallowed and gave a soft smile. "...Yeah."

Without warning, Alas buried her face in his chest, and Maou tightened his arms around her, as if his body responded on its own. With her appearance, it was only natural that he'd be surprised that she held such a realistic concept of death, but being a fragment of Yesod, perhaps it wasn't so unusual after all.

Ashiya was making quite a clatter with the dishes, more so than usual, and out of the corner of his eye Maou saw Urushihara had plugged his headphones back in and was typing seemingly nothing in the search bar. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

He heard Alas sniffle, and drawing his eyebrows together he drew her away. "Now, don't be sad for me, Alas," he said gently, running a thumb along her cheek to wipe away the tear. "It's been a long time. I'm not sad anymore."

"You're not?" Alas sniffed, rubbing her other eye with her fist. "You don't miss them?"

"Of course I don't. Do you know why?" Alas shook her head. "Because I've got a new family, here in Shinjuku. With you, and Ashiya, and Urushihara, and Suzuno..."

"And Mommy?" Alas said brightly, her tears disappearing.

That stopped him with his mouth open. Swallowing down the first words jumping to his throat, which most certainly would have set Alas into tears again, he managed, "Y-yes, and Mommy too."

That made Alas beam widely with happiness, and just that was able to wash away all feelings that his statement had been a lie.

Alas turned back to the computer and requested once again to see the pictures of the satyrs. After a few seconds, however, she pointed and asked, "Daddy, what's that thing?"

"What's what thing?"

"That thing, right there. On the baa-man. In the middle."

"In the middle—AH, Alas, don't look at that! Quick, Urushihara, close it!"

"R-Right!" Urushihara obeyed his king's command faster than he'd ever done before. When the webpage was gone, Maou lowered his hand from his daughter's eyes. Alas pulled an angry expression and pouted at her father. "Daddyyyyyy! I want to see more!"

"Y-Y-You don't need to see that anymore, Alas=Ramus. Here, um, uh, why don't you...show me something? Show me how the sa...the ba-babies dance again?"

Alas's anger fell away immediately, and she smiled widely. "Okay! Da da da, da da, dadada dada, da da!"

She began to hop and jump as she had before, her hands held before her as if she were playing an imaginary set of panpipes. Maou smiled with her, and imagined he could hear them playing.

* * *

"My lord...If it's not too bold of me to ask..."

"What is it, Ashiya?" Maou's tone was neutral, but he'd been waiting all night for Ashiya to finally start asking. His general had been fidgety ever since the Hero had come to pick up Alas=Ramus, and truth be told if he hadn't just started right then Maou had half a mind to ask him what the matter was himself.

"Well, I was just wondering...If there was any...well...If there was anything from Ente Isla you, well...That you'd been missing?"

"Not this again," Urushihara groaned suddenly. Maou turned to him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"He asked me something like this a few days ago. Wanted to know if I missed my wings. I don't know what's gotten into him lately."

"Don't talk like I'm acting crazy! It's a perfectly normal question! I've just been a little curious, that's all!"

"But why are you so curious all of a sudden?" Maou asked, curiously.

" _I_ think it's the pressure cooker. It's messing with the food," Urushihara added in a loud whisper. "It's probably a rip-off. We might have to throw it out."

"Don't you _dare!_ That is an outlandish and false accusation, and you know it!" Ashiya retorted indignantly, sidestepping slightly so that he'd put himself between the fallen angel and his precious cooker.

Maou ignored it all. "It's not strange of him to ask, Urushihara," he stated. "I guess it's been only a matter of time before we started noticing the differences."

Ashiya turned his surprised gaze to his king. "Then...?"

Maou returned his questioning look with a smile. "Of course I miss Ente Isla, Ashiya. It's our home, and we're definitely going to go back and conquer it someday." A bit of his old light returned to his eye.

"But..." Here Ashiya and even Urushihara leaned in, not bothering to hide their curiosity at what their king had to say. "...we have a home here too. We're going to make Japan, and then Earth, ours after all, so it won't matter in the end even if we leave. But even if we can't go back to Ente Isla yet, it doesn't do us any good to start missing it now, because we'll definitely be back. All we can do is look forward and focus on our goal."

Ashiya's eyes were shining by the end of it. He drew himself up proudly and gave a bow. "Yes...my king!"

Urushihara merely gave a small smile and turned back to his computer, though he couldn't help but feel the urge to sit a little straighter, too.

It had been a little cheesy when Maou thought about it later, but he'd meant every word. Yes, he missed Ente Isla. He missed his position as the King of the Demon World, and he missed the power and authority that came with it. It was odd, he'd never noticed just how large a role it had really been until it was gone. As the centuries went by, he'd gotten used to it, he supposed. But the past was the past, as it had always been.

His scarlet gaze had always been pointed to the future.

* * *

 **RN:** Woooooooooow...It's literally been almost five months since I updated this thing...And here I'd been planning to churn out three chapters in two weeks...Haha, _nope._ If you didn't know I'm a slow updater before, you really should by now...

~Part of the reason it took so long to come out is because it was actually much harder to figure out at first what sort of response Maou would give. But once I got it, it seemed suddenly pretty obvious.

~Yes, the movie Alas=Ramus and Urushihara was _Fantasia._ I know the centaur scene is different from the pegasus scene, but I figured Alas wouldn't really remember the difference.

~I'd originally planned for this to be the last chapter, but since I was requested to do Suzuno and Emilia as well, they'll be coming up next. Please let me know if you want me to do any other characters as well, and as always, leave a review in the box below!


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